9/12/2005 Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

Minutes of a Meeting of the North Olmsted Parks and Recreation Commission September 12, 2005 Tim Murphy asked if the levy passes in November, how many years would it take for the children to play baseball. Mr. Lasko said that there is still some discussion as to how things would be configured, but it would be started next year, so it would be available the following year, or to his understanding, 2007. That portion of it could be started almost immediately, from Mr. Lasko’s understanding, from the information he has learned. Grass has to be planted, allowed to mature and then replanted and allowed to mature so that it would be available in 2007. Mr. Murphy asked if that was the best-case scenario. Mr. Lasko replied that it was. The worst case scenario would be 2008. Mr. Murphy asked the protocol softball went through via City Council to get its fence. Mr. DiSalvo said that was before his time. Mr. Kelley said that they came through the Rec Commission, just like Mr. Murphy is now. Mr. Kelley said that he usually saves the minutes from the different years and that he would check it in his records. Mr. DiSalvo added to the conversation that there is definitely high demand for usage at North Olmsted Park. He said that the Rec is fortunate that it has High School, Hot Stove and all the other teams presenting the demand for a better quality field. If the fence is temporary and up in the summer, down in the fall and everyone’s satisfied. The only issue, he felt, was that one more tree must come down to meet the proper dimensions for that field, and he did not know how much of a concern that would be. If everything’s met, the Commissioner did not see a problem with the fence. It’s not going to be a permanent eye sore; it’s benefiting more than two organizations and helping the Rec Department. The Rec is not funding one cent for this, and he did not see any downfall with it. Hopefully, in two or three years, the Schools have their own field, and the temporary fence is no longer an issue. This was going into phases – two years ago the Rec Department knew about the problem with (back then) Field #1 running into Field #2, so the Rec purposely addressed to switch the fields and do this in phases. Then we hit the new fence proposal, but that was the true plan – to switch the fields. We got permission from the Forester and Building Commissioner to take down a tree, but one more tree needs to come down for the proper fence dimensions. Mr. Carras said that as Athletic Director for the North Olmsted Schools, together with the Rec Department, we first of all are bound for the safety of our kids. We’ve had some unsafe situations happen out there, and we still have an unsafe situation out there. We don’t have a fence now and we have kids running in the street. None of us here want to see our kids running after a ball in the street, whether they’re four years old or whether they’re fourteen years old. So we are addressing a safety issue in the City of North Olmsted. That’s the first thing. The second thing is that we have a cooperative effort between the City and the Schools for the usage of the facilities – the ice arena, the swimming pools, the gyms; and it’s been a great relationship. We (being the Rec Department, the City, and the Schools), Mr. Carras tries to provide the best facilities possible for the kids at the High School and for the people that come and use our buildings. Right now we have a gym floor we’re not playing on. We have to play all our Page 7